Tamara Holder Talk: Tamara Holder, Esquire
General Information

Tamara N. Holder is an Illinois defense attorney and TV/radio legal analyst. She has no shortage of opinions, many of which she shares with you here.

Criminal Defense * Criminal Record Clearing * Governor's Pardons * Discrimination * Police Brutality * Public Policy

www.xpunged.com

 



Entries in school (1)

Tuesday
08Sep2009

OBAMA IS ALL ABOUT INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY, HARD WORK & DELFECTION OF POVERTY. WHAT'S WITH THE BAILOUTS AND UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE?

I was pleasantly surprised by Obama's speech to K-12 students today. Maybe it was because I listened to it while standing outside of FNC's studios in NYC? (Speech here.) I don't think Obama had a secret agenda; just because a speech is given by our President, that doesn't mean it is intended to for an ulterior political effect. (And for the record, I'm quite the Obama cynic!) To me, it was simply a superb convocation speech with one purpose: to motivate our youth to become educated. (Last week, I gave a convocation speech to students at Indiana Tech University; too bad mine was not as well-written as Obama's!)

Before Obama's speech today, most kids had never been spoken to about individual responsibility, perseverance and reward. What I liked most, was that Obama gave examples - examples that our children understand - from JK Rowling to Michael Jordan. The majority probably didn't know that publishers dismissed the Harry Potter books so many times!


Obama's Theme: Work & Individual Responsibility


I studied Obama's DNC speech and wrote a detailed blog about his focus on hard work and the importance of working hard.  In fact, I lost count of how many times he said the word "work!" My blog here. Obama's speech had a similar theme today: students must work hard if they want to succeed.

Another Deflection

I find it interesting that it wasn't until the end of Obama's speech where he said something like "we are doing our part to get you the resources [for an education.]" Today's speech wasn't about what Obama's going to do to provide for the opportunity for our students to have the best education...but now he's opened the door so he better follow up!

Walk into a Chicago Public School one day and you will find kids whose only meal of the day is the one served in school. Many kids don't have those books and computers. Sure, he had an example of ONE child out of Chicago Public Schools who made it against the odds. But that girl is an anomoly. Kids cannot relate to that ONE child.  What is Obama going to do to bring our schools up to par?

Bailout the Rich, Not the Poor?
So as Obama talks about INDIVIDUAL responsibility, what is HIS responsibility to our future doctors, lawyers and teachers? He has chosen to bail out AIG, Chrysler, GM and the big dogs on Wall Street. Bail out the banks and the mortgage industry that contributed to their own demise but do not bail out the people who were essentially born with no resources, no food, no education? And on top of all the talk about individual responsibility, Obama wants everyone to have health care? Well, if health care is FREE, where is the individual responsibility?

Obama is totally contradicting himself.  He should pick a position and stick with it.  Speaking to kids about individual responsibility while he bails out Wall Street makes absolutely NO sense to me.

Previous Blog: 

MICHELLE & BARACK OBAMA: "WORK HARD"; LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT THE POOR

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